Book Tour: The Monster That Ate My Socks by A.J. Cosmo (with Giveaway!)

You honestly cannot tell me that as soon as you read the title “The Monster That Ate My Socks” that you were not intrigued about this book. I mean doesn’t everyone wonder what happens with their socks when they go missing? I definitely wonder… a lot. I wanted to read this book as soon as I read the title… then I saw the cover and I knew I HAD to read it! Find out what I thought about it below!

Synopsis

A young boy, who is about to be grounded for going through so many socks, discovers that a monster has been eating them.

Max is a young boy who is constantly getting in trouble for his socks disappearing. He doesn’t know where they go, but he does know that if he doesn’t do something quickly his mom will ground him for summer. Max soon discovers that a little green monster is sneaking into his room at night and eating his sweaty socks. His mother, of course, doesn’t believe him, so Max calls on his best friend to come for a sleepover to catch the monster.
They devise a trap and capture the monster only to learn that the creature can speak. It hasn’t meant to cause any harm, it’s just trying to feed its family. The monster shows them his home and his three little children and begs the boys not to turn them over to the adults. Adults, he says, want to destroy monsters.

The boys are left in a pickle. Allow the monsters to be and get grounded, or turn the monsters in knowing what will happen to them? Neither idea seems good, so they come up with a new plan!

About the Author

A.J. Cosmo’s stories are crafted to help parents teach their children simple everyday lessons in an easy to understand manner. By artfully marrying beautiful illustrations and language, children are challenged to explore his magical worlds. Written for the transitional reader, A.J.’s stories allow your child to develop and master a new level of reading.

Guest Post: Working with Procrastination

I’m a full-time independent children’s book writer and illustrator, so my time is packed to the brim with work. Stories need written, books need illustrating, marketing needs prepped, bills need paid. Lucky for me, I’m constantly working and never, ever, take a break!

Well, not exactly . . .

There’s a tendency in modern American society to equate busyness with productivity (and thus moral stature) so the busier we are, the better our work ethic and the nobler our lives. Our worth is measured in busyness, for if a person is idle, they’re not productive, and an unproductive person in a nation based on capitalism is worthless.

However, much like our Facebook posts, we tend to show others only what we want them to see. Oftentimes this busyness is simply false productivity. How many hours have you spent idling through the Internet? How much time at work do people waste doing things that seem important but actually have no benefit to the company? Most people are incredibly good at doing everything but what’s important just so that we can tell others, in an exhausted huff “You wouldn’t believe how swamped I am.”

These tasks are not productive; on the contrary, they are energy sapping. By insisting that we constantly work, we are diminishing the amount that we accomplish. “Fake” work is simply a form of diversion that has neither the benefit of leisure, nor the value of productivity. It’s artificial.

The truth is we need downtime. True downtime. We require procrastination. We crave diversion. This applies doubly so to creative’s. Much artistic guilt springs from artists finding themselves unable to create or even finish a project. We schedule work time, make check lists, and manufacture all sorts of promises to loved ones, but when the time comes, the work doesn’t.

That’s because artists aren’t gardens or wells, we’re appropriators. We translate, reconfigure, transmute, adapt, alter, and mimic the world around us. Our job is to take the world and present it to others in a way that they never imagined. This fresh viewpoint enriches lives and constitutes the mysterious value of the arts. That task requires food.

There’s nothing to feed from when all we do is work (which if taken to the extreme, leads to work about work.) Just living life seems to have lost its value in the modern world. Everyone seems so obsessed with plans that they ignore what they have at hand. Even if what we create has nothing to do with what we experience, the drive to create still resides in experiencing life.

Non-artists require this energy as well; it’s part of what makes us conscious beings. It’s when we get tied up in busyness that we become like machines. It’s okay to relax. It’s fine to procrastinate occasionally. It’s not a sin to take some personal time. Inspire yourself. Treat yourself. Be kind to yourself.

So the next time you’re sitting around and someone asks you what you’re doing tell them “I’m working on the next great thing.” And if that mind of yours won’t rest and stomps about angry with your laziness, take some advice from me: do the opposite. Your mind is upset because it hasn’t rested, and once you take a break, you’ll find that the work will flow.

My Review

Not going to lie, as soon as I received this book in the mail I immediately picked it up to read it. It was such a cute book! The illustrations were awesome (and I have to say a super huge thank you to A.J. for sending all of the cool graphics that are spread throughout this blog post! I can’t help but smile when I look at them!) and the story was really cute. As soon as I started reading I wanted to know what was going on with the socks- where did they keep disappearing off to and why were there little bits lying around?

As I mentioned the illustrations were awesome. They were colourful and really added to the story- you felt like you could just dive into the picture and be a part of the story. A.J.’s monsters are absolutely adorable and I really want one as a pet (but not if they are going to eat my socks- I already have enough socks go missing without having my pet monster eat them!)

I thought the story was a cute one and was very unique. I liked the ending and thought that it taught a valuable lesson to kids. If you have little munchkins at home (especially ones whose socks constantly go missing) then I highly recommend sharing this book with them. I know I can’t wait to read this book to my kids (even though they are currently non-existent!). I will definitely take a look at A.J.’s other work- I think he is a really great writer and illustrator.